One other point - to be legal your build has to comply with the import ban meaning you will need to replace a number of specific imported parts with US made replacements. This is a somewhat complicated issue and you may need to dig through a number of discussions on this to understand it well.

If you want to make it simple replace the stock, handguard, pistol grip, and the muzzle device with US made parts and you will be good to go.

I know some people will debate this issue - saying it only applies to licensed manufacturers or that they never met anybody who was arrested or had a gun confiscated over this. But then it isn't their life on the line - it is yours.

Don't forget the all-important conversion to semi-auto as well as applicable denial features (which prevent f/a components from being re-installed). The primary reason for swapping the barrel is to get it above the legal 16" limit here in the States (unless you are doing a pistol). If new to gun building, it would behoove you to check up on the legal aspects of the subject; it's not very complicated, but a handful of unintuitive rules must be followed during the process (for instance, you don't want to have a completed receiver and original parts on hand without first procuring a longer barrel and semi-auto components, since it could be argued you were building the gun with a full-auto SBR in mind )

Luckily, AK builds are very well documented and understood, and the ATF has been very clear on what they find acceptable, so there is no need to worry about getting their approval on your build, or anything (so long as you stick to an approved configuration for your build)

By far the best deals (if you can call them that) on the scrap metal we call "parts kits" are found in private sales, as far from Gunbroker as possible (AK kits are going for north of 500$ over there for some dumb reason). You may endeavor to keep your costs as low as possible, but go into this knowing you are unlikely to save yourself money, especially considering the time your will put into it. It will probably be ugly, have sticky extraction or feeding issues, and probably rust from where you bled on it at some point.

However, the experience and understanding of the process you will gain will pay enormous dividends should you decided to build another weapon at a later date (you will ). Any even your worse-than-Century-drunken-monkeys abomination will be ten times cooler than your friends fancy-pants Surgeon rifle

weaponsguild.com and weaponeer.net are excellent resources for homebuilders (not the same thing as gunsmiths, and definitely not machinists--think more like Bubbas making cool stuff that actually works )

TCB

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"I don't believe that the men of the distant past were any wiser than we are today. But it does seem that their science and technology were able to accomplish much grander things."
-- Alex Rosewater

One of the main things to know is if the rails are already installed on your reciever and are the holes already heat treated. If not then it can get even more expensive once you start buying and making the tools you will need.

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We know exactly where one cow with Mad-cow-disease is located, among the millions and millions of cows in America, but we haven't got a clue where thousands of illegal immigrants and terrorists are

Building is not cheaper than buying. It also doesn't make economic sense to bend your own receiver flats if you are only going to build one or two rifles. The cost for tools to make a receiver will be far more than buying a receiver from Nodak Spud.

You will also have to throw out perfectly good foreign made kit parts and replace them with U.S. made parts to comply with the 922r law. The receivers and barrels have been banned from import so you will have to buy those also and the receiver will have to go through a FFL transfer. Then there is the cost of tools and materials for building.

You will also need to know about head spacing the barrel and bolt. If you don't understand head spacing you could have a big surprise coming and a trip to the hospital E.R. in your future.

It does apply even with a U.S. made receiver. The U.S. made receiver will only count as one part towards 922r compliance. There are 5 or 6 U.S. made parts required on a AK rifle build. 922r doesn't apply if you build it as a pistol.

Reading more about it it does seem you are correct. It seems it is possible to break 922R with an AR if you use cheap foreign parts. How odd.

What then also comes into play is the ATFE regulation that you can change a pistol to a rifle and back without the gun becoming a "rifle." So, probably, if I have the pistol parts around there isn't much ATFE could say about it even if .

Some of these laws are jaw dropping stupid.

To be honest, if I ever assemble another gun from parts I don't think I will worry about 922R at all. The law is just too stupid for me to worry about it.

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